Defence procurement, indigenisation priorities: Jaitley

New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) Speeding up procurement of defence equipment and indigenisation are among the top priorities, said Arun Jaitley soon after taking charge as defence minister Tuesday.

He said there should be no controversy over the appointment of the new Indian Army chief though his Bharatiya Janata Party had opposed the outgoing government's decision on this days before leaving office.

"Security of India is a matter of prime importance. It is about external security of the country and preparedness of armed forces... speeding up (procurement) of equipment required for support is the priority area," Jaitley said.

"We are concerned that in the last few years some areas have slowed down. Expediting them is a concern," he said.

On indegenisation of defence equipment, the minister said: "It is an issue, both limbs of which are dealt by my departments. It is already coming up in discussions."

He added it was an area he was "personally willing to oversee".

On the issue of Lt.Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag becoming the new army chief, Jaitley said there should be no controversy.

"I believe there should be no controversy about the appointment of any person," he told reporters.

Lt. Gen. Suhag was named the successor to army chief Gen. Bikram Singh by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government days before it left office.

The BJP then objected to the new army chief being named, saying there was no hurry and that the decision should be left to the new government.

"There were some comments on the procedure which happened when the model code of conduct was there. This should not reflect on person concerned in any manner," added Jaitley shortly after he assumed office as the new defence minister, an additional charge he has with the finance ministry.

Jaitley, who met the three Service chiefs, also expressed concern over the crash of a MiG-21 aircraft in Jammu and Kashmir earlier in the morning.

"It is a matter of great concern. My heart goes out to the pilot who lost his life," he said.

Jaitley, who also took over as the finance minister, however, said the charge of defence ministry was additional for him and a new minister would take over in "two weeks" and for now he would try to do a "balancing act".

"I will be spending reasonable amount of time here (defence ministry) to clear the backlog, and all new decisions that need to be taken. It is a very important ministry, hope it gets a full time head in next two weeks," he said.

India remains apprehensive of a military aggression by China. Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he would not pursue a tough policy towards China, the Indian military communityâ€™s sentiment is different. In January 2012, Indian military analyst, retired Colonel Anil Athale, forecast that China would launch an attack on India in June-July 2012. At present, analysts at the Indian military staff say that this might happen in 2017.

The publication of recommendations by military analysts to the new government has been spelled out by the determination to prepare as high as possible for a possible aggression.

According to the Defencenews.in portal, following are the Defence Ministryâ€™s priorities:

1. Boost indigenous defence R&D and production. Revamp DRDO and its 50 labs, five defence PSUs, four shipyards and 39 ordnance factories. Encourage the private sector to enter arms manufacturing in a major way. India, embarrassingly, still imports 65% of its military hardware and software.

2. Streamline cumbersome arms procurement procedures to fast-track acquisitions and reduce corruption. Also re-examine the policies for offsets, transfer of technology and ban on agents. Projects for new submarines, howitzers, fighters, helicopters, night-fighting capabilities, air defence weapons and the like have been stuck for years due to politico-bureaucratic apathy.

3. Reform the country's higher defence management, with measures ranging from creating a chief of defence staff-like post to truly integrating Service HQs with the defence ministry and cross-staffing (posting military officers to MoD at the director/joint secretary-levels).

4. Ensure faster build-up of both the new mountain strike corps as well as military infrastructure like the long-identified 73 strategic roads and 14 railway lines, helipads and advance landing grounds, along the Line of Actual Control to counter China. Boost force-levels and infrastructure at Andaman and Nicobar Command, apart from creating three new tri-Service commands for space, cyber and special operations.

5. Complete India's nuclear weapons triad by faster induction of nuclear submarine INS Arihant and its follow-on sister ships with long-range missiles. Land and air legs are already in place with Agni ballistic missiles and fighter-bombers.

6. Hike budgeted defence expenditure to at least 2.5% of GDP, instead of letting it wallow around just 1.7 to 1.9%, for adequate military modernization and requisite deterrence against both China and Pakistan. Cut the flab in the armed forces, improve the teeth-to-tail ratio.

Judging by several border incidents in the recent past, China really provokes India, but it does not provide a motive for waging an all-out war. Relations between the two countries are strained but this has always within certain limits.

In an interview with Christian Science Monitor, Indian expert in security issues Brahma Chellaney has recently said that the supply of Chinese weapons to Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma and Nepal seriously worries India. According to Chellaney, the strengthening of Chinaâ€™s military cooperation with these countries could be considered in two ways. On the one hand, this could be an attempt to create footholds along the shipping routes in the Indian Ocean for delivering oil from the Middle East. On the other hand, this could be a strategy aimed at surrounding India by a ring of military alliances.

An article by Chinese analyst Wang Yiwei in Peopleâ€™s Daily on January 14, 2014 has seriously worried India. In his article, the analyst outlined Chinaâ€™s strategic goals.

This strategy is aimed at forming a new universal civilization in which China should become the standard-bearer of the post-West era. China must create preconditions for the development of the entire mankind where China will be the helper and mentor of each person.